epangelia · promise

What it means

epangelia (ἐπαγγελία) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “promise”.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. What someone pledges to give or do, above all God.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Promise: the announcement of a good that someone commits himself to give. It comes from ἐπαγγέλλω, ‘promise’ (G1861). In the New Testament it is above all God’s promises to Abraham and their fulfillment, and the promise of the Spirit.

• “The promise of the Father”: the Spirit Acts 1:4Acts 2:33Acts 2:39
• The promises to Abraham and his offspring Galatians 3:16Romans 4:13Galatians 3:29
• Those who died without receiving the promises Hebrews 11:13Hebrews 11:39
• “As many as are the promises of God”: in him is the Yes 2 Corinthians 1:20
• The commandment “with a promise” Ephesians 6:2

How we translate it

“Promise” 40 times and “promises” 12. The Greek phrase is kept even where it could be smoothed: “the land of the promise” (Hebrews 11:9). In Acts 23:21 it is the promise the conspirators wait for: “waiting for the promise from you”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• promise ×40
• promises ×12

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Luke×1
• Acts×8
• Romans×8
• 2 Corinthians×2
• Galatians×10
• Ephesians×4
• 1 Timothy×1
• 2 Timothy×1
• Hebrews×14
• 2 Peter×2
• 1 John×1

• Luke 24:49

  And look, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but you stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

• Acts 1:4

  And while gathered together with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, “which you heard from me;

• Acts 2:33

  Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you see and hear.

• Acts 2:39

  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all those far away, as many as the Lord our God may call.”

• Acts 7:17

  But as the time of the promise that God had promised to Abraham drew near, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

• Acts 13:23

  From this man’s offspring God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

• Acts 13:32

  And we announce the good news to you, the promise made to the fathers,

• Acts 23:21

  So you must not be persuaded by them, for more than forty men of them are lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.”

• Acts 26:6

  And now I stand here being judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,

• Romans 4:13

  For the promise to Abraham or to his offspring, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

• Romans 4:14

  For if those of the law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been nullified.

• Romans 4:16

  For this reason it is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be certain to all the offspring, not only to those of the law but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

• Romans 4:20

  yet with respect to the promise of God he did not waver in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

• Romans 9:4

  who are Israelites; to them belong the adoption as sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the promises;

• Romans 9:8

  That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

• Romans 9:9

  For this is the word of promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.

• Romans 15:8

  For I say that the Messiah has become a servant of the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, in order to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

• 2 Corinthians 1:20

  For as many as are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him goes the “Amen” to God for glory through us.

• 2 Corinthians 7:1

  Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, completing holiness in the fear of God.

• Galatians 3:14

  so that to the nations the blessing of Abraham might come in the Messiah Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

• Galatians 3:16

  Now to Abraham the promises were spoken, and to his offspring. It does not say, And to offsprings, as of many, but as of one, And to your offspring, who is the Messiah.

• Galatians 3:17

  Now this I say: a covenant previously ratified by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul, so as to nullify the promise.

• Galatians 3:18

  For if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by promise; but to Abraham God has granted it through promise.

• Galatians 3:21

  Is the law then against the promises of God? By no means! For if a law had been given that could give life, righteousness would really have been by the law.

• Galatians 3:22

  But the Scripture has confined all things under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus the Messiah might be given to those who believe.

• Galatians 3:29

  And if you are the Messiah’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

• Galatians 4:23

  But the son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

• Galatians 4:28

  And you, brothers, are children of promise like Isaac.

• Ephesians 1:13

  in whom you also, having heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

• Ephesians 2:12

  that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

• Ephesians 3:6

  that the nations are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in the Messiah Jesus through the good news,

• Ephesians 6:2

  Honor your father and your mother —which is the first commandment with a promise—

• 1 Timothy 4:8

  for bodily training is of some value, but godliness is of value for everything, holding promise for the life that is now and for that to come.

• 2 Timothy 1:1

  Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus through the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in the Messiah Jesus,

• Hebrews 4:1

  Let us fear, then, that, while a promise remains of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to have fallen short.

• Hebrews 6:12

  so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

• Hebrews 6:15

  And so, having waited patiently, he obtained the promise.

• Hebrews 6:17

  Therefore, when God wanted to show more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

• Hebrews 7:6

  But the one whose descent is not traced from them has collected a tenth from Abraham and has blessed the one who has the promises.

• Hebrews 8:6

  But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

And 12 more times.